Summer could be sizzler

If Guillen lights fire in Sox, city will have 2 hot contenders

For the Cubs, who have so few question marks they could open the season in three weeks, maybe two, March will be the longest month. Yet there may not be enough hours in the day, or days in the week, for the White Sox.

Ozzie Guillen, who never had run a workout until Friday, must get some hard answers about his team while also learning the trickier points of managing. His most important job, however, is building belief in a team that has become accustomed to disappointment.

"The season to me starts today, not April 4 or April 6," Guillen pronounced after he had assembled his pitchers and catchers. "We have to prove to everybody, show people what kind of team we're going to have. I don't care about winning [exhibition games]. I want them to play the game right. I want them to be focused."

If you are a Chicago baseball fan, on either side of town, you should wish Guillen well. If he can get more out of his players than Jerry Manuel did in the last three years, then 2004 could go down as the greatest season in the city since 1906, when the White Sox beat the Cubs in the World Series.

There's a temptation to remember little from 2003 other than the Cubs' run in September and October--their synapse-popping series with St. Louis, Matt Clement's division-clinching performance against Pittsburgh, Kerry Wood mowing down Atlanta twice and then the heartbreak that Josh Beckett, Ivan Rodriguez and the rest of the Florida Marlins caused.

But don't forget the Kansas City Royals' visit to U.S. Cellular in early September, when record walk-up crowds gave the White Sox sellouts on back-to-back school nights. Nor the anticipation of seven games in 11 days against Minnesota.

It was a shame Frank Thomas and his teammates stopped scoring runs after the Twins' Johan Santana and Brad Radke shut them down at the Cell. There was a time when it looked like the Sox were Chicago's most dangerous team.

The starting rotation of Bartolo Colon, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland was a theoretical match for Mark Prior, Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Clement. The difference is that while Cubs manager Dusty Baker lit his team's fuse, Manuel couldn't strike a match.

Still, what a great time to be alive and talking baseball. And 2004 could be even better if the White Sox hold up their end.

Cynics--that is, Sox fans--will point out the Cubs haven't had back-to-back winning seasons in 31 years. But given the confidence Baker has built, the depth of their pitching and the peripheral talent Jim Hendry has assembled, they should get back to the playoffs, either as NL Central champs or the league's wild card.

In a worst-case scenario, the Cubs suffer two or three key injuries, guys like Corey Patterson and Mark Grudzielanek struggle and they still are strong enough to go into September fighting for the playoffs.

With a payroll that is roughly $30 million lower than the Cubs, the White Sox do not have such a margin for error. But they do have a history of being predictably solid, averaging 86 victories over the last four seasons--compared to the Cubs' 78--and they play in baseball's softest division.

Imagine how our city would feel if both teams were at the top of their respective Central Divisions, or even close to the top, all the way from April through September. Ballpark hot dogs could replace pizza as Chicago's signature dish.

But if that's going to happen, Guillen must prove himself to be a natural at handling a clubhouse and running a team. He believes he has enough talent to reach the playoffs, but you don't lose free agents like Colon, Carl Everett, Robbie Alomar, Tom Gordon and Scott Sullivan without weakening your roster.

So, Ozzie, how good is your team?

"Good enough to win the division," Guillen answers. "A lot of people don't believe it, from what I've heard, but that's fine. I think we're good enough to win the division. We lost Bartolo Colon and Flash [Gordon], but people forget that most of the people we lost were guys that [general manager Ken Williams] picked up to help the team win at the end. If we do what we need to do on the field, we can win. Maybe people don't think so, but I couldn't care less what people think."

Guillen doesn't have to do a Dusty. He's not taking over a team that lost 95 games a year ago.

All he has to do is get Billy Koch back on track, find a starter or two and teach the Sox how to win more of the close games.

If he can do half of that, this summer should fly by faster than usual.